Hair curler



F. lNSANA HAIR CURLER March 20, 1962 Filed July 22, 1959 I INVENTOR Fran/co ASH fllzm m e? 7- TOJE 'X ilnited tates 3,025,862 Patented Mar. 20, 2

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3,025,862 HAIR CURLER Franco Insana, 415 Smithfield St., Pittsburgh, Pa. Filed July 22, 1959, Ser. No. 828,881 1 Claim. (Cl. 132-42) My invention relates to hair curlers of the type wherein hair is wound upon a mandrel and retained there until it has become set in the form of a curl.

An object of my invention is to provide a curler of the type referred to which can be operated more conveniently than various types heretofore employed and which when not in use has no protruding parts that may become entangled, the hair retaining element for the mandrel being in the form of an elastic cord that will be largely contained within the mandrel when the curler is not being used.

As shown in the accompanying drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the mandrel upon which hair is to be wrapped.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the elastic retaining member which when moved to operative position as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 will hold the wrapped hair in place upon the mandrel.

FIG. 4 is a view showing one end of the cord stretched to a point at which it will hook into an end of the mandrel and hold hair in place.

FIG. 5 shows the other end of the cord drawn from the mandrel and hooked into the other end of the mandrel.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged end view of the mandrel.

The mandrel 7 has a central perforation or bore 8 and is recessed at its ends to form pockets 9. The mandrel may be of wood, a plastic, or a metal. The ends of the mandrel are notched at 10 and 11 to releasably hold the ends of the cord as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, at convenient locations circumferentially of the mandrel ends.

An elastic cord 12 extends loosely through the mandrel and is preferably not more than perhaps slightly greater in length than the mandrel, thereby avoiding protruding ends which would interfere with wrapping of the hair on the mandrel and also avoid curler becoming entangled with one another when placed in a drawer. One end of the mandrel is shown as having a recess for a button 13 that is held therein by a knot in the cord 12 and the other end of the cord has a knot 14. Both the button and the knot prevent accidental withdrawal of the cord from the mandrel and serve the further function of releasably holding the cord in overlying relation to hair wrapped on the mandrel. As shown in FIG. 4, the button 13 is held by one of the notches 10 while in FIG. 5, the back-turned end of the cord has its knot 14 held by one of the notches 11.

It will be understood that the cord is stretchable to slightly more than double its contracted length shown in FIG. 3. Buttons can be provided on both ends of the cord or only knots can be provided on the ends.

Knurling is shown at 15 that will serve to avoid slippage of a wrapping on the mandrel, particularly where a strip of paper is applied before wrapping the hair on the mandrel.

While it is preferable to use an elastic cord 12, for the reasons above set forth, it will be understood that a nonelastic cord, or the like, of sufiicient length to extend through the mandrel and to overlie a curl, can be used instead of the elastic cord.

I claim as my invention:

A hair curler of longitudinally symmetrical construe tion comprising a mandrel about which hair is wrapped to effect a curling action thereon and having identically constructed enlarged end portions each including a plurality of spaced transverse notches extending from the outer edges of said end portions and a recess portion forming a pocket one at each of the ends of said mandrel, means defining a longitudinal passage extending through the length of said mandrel, an elastic cord received within said passage and proportioned relatively thereto to be of greater length than said passage to provide, in the relaxed state of said cord, extending portions protruding beyond each of the complementary enlarged ends of said mandrel, means forming abutments at the ends of said elastic cord for movement into abutting engagement with the mandrel portion within said recess to be held thereby when one or the other of said abutments is pulled outwardly effecting elongation of said cord and to permit doubling thereof along the length of said mandrel, each of said abutments being displaceable from its associated mandrel end in the relaxed length of said cord to provide a finger catch for stretching the cord length from either end thereof While the opposite end is disposed in engagement within its complementary mandrel portion within said recess and is held thereby, each of said elastic cord abutment ends being proportioned to fit within the recess portion of said mandrel when the cord is stretched and doubled over the mandrel length to fit the stretched cord within the notched end of the mandrel to which it is drawn and where it effects a locking action maintaining the stretched condition of said cord,

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,853,080 Brancaccio Sept. 23, 1958 2,896,638 Korsmo July 28, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 585,652 Great Britain Feb. 14, 1947 

